— Weight and see how good healthy decisions can feel and taste



If you think of your body as a house, your mind is the foundation. It should be strong or the house will fall apart. Your mind is the most powerful tool, Fran DiVecchio writes in a cool little pink book about how she lost 100 pounds and kept it off 12 years.

It’s simple, really, and she shares her tips and recipes in “5 Things to Know for Successful and Lasting Weight Loss.”  So you don’t like exercise. You don’t like paying bills, but you’ve gotta do it. The author, who grew up with great Italian cooking, had a fall that shocked her into realizing her small frame was carrying a dangerous amount of weight. That’s what it took to get her moving. It wasn’t the comment that a family friend made years earlier, that she was too heavy to date his son.

She doesn’t deprive herself of any food, yet puts thought into why she is eating it. Here some of her tasty ideas:



 Roasted Red Pepper Dip

Smooth, satisfying and full of flavor

3 cloves of roasted garlic, mashed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans

1 12-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped

 Whisk together the garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and cilantro. Puree the garbanzo beans and the red peppers in a food processor while drizzling olive oil mixture into bean and pepper mixture. Pulse until smooth. Serving suggestions: Chilled in a hollowed-out red pepper. Wonderful with toasted baguette slices.



 Choffee

A tasty treat for chocoholics and coffee lovers alike.

1 single serving package hot cocoa mix

6-8 ounces freshly-brewed coffee

Empty Hot cocoa mix into mug. Stir in hot coffee and enjoy.



Basil + pepper + tequila = cool hot drink

I waited weeks, until I could harvest fresh basil from a friend’s garden, to assemble a Corzo Basilica Mexicana. It also required jalapeno, which came from a hyper-hot plant of a coworkers’ parents’ labor. Corzo Reposado Tequila, from the trademark rectangle glass bottles that are pure artwork, is the shining star in this drink that carries the colors of the Mexican flag, if your pepper is red. I loved the bite of the pepper with the sweetness of the nectar. Note the nectar and tequla are made from the same plant. Here’s how you do it:

Corzo Basilica Mexicana

1 1/2 parts Corzo Reposado Tequila

1/2 part Green Chartreuse

1/4 part agave nectar

1 thin slice jalapeno pepper

1/2 part fresh lime juice

3 large basil leaves

Process: In a mixing glass, muddle the pepper and basil in the agave nectar and lime juice. Add remaining ingredients and shake will with ice. Strain over ice into a  rocks glass. Garnish: basil leaf “flag” and jalapeno pepper.